Defense Of Marriage Act Ruled Unconstitutional

On Friday, the “2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals” ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

Naturally, supporters of the law that “defines marriage as a union between a man and woman for the purposes of federal law viewed the ruling as “yet another example of judicial activism and elite judges imposing their views on the American people.”  That’s funny because people against the law think religious zealots are trying to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of the country.

According to a Huffington Post article:

In a majority opinion written by Judge Dennis Jacobs, the 2nd Circuit, like a federal appeals court in Boston before it, found no reason the Defense of Marriage Act could be used to deny benefits to married gay couples.

…discrimination against gays should be scrutinized by the courts in the same heightened way as discrimination faced by women was in the 1970s.  At the time, he noted, they faced widespread discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere. The heightened scrutiny, as it is referred to in legal circles, would mean government discrimination against gays would be assumed to be unconstitutional.

I doubt this will keep conservative members of Congress from trying to pass more laws to impose their religious beliefs on all Americans and limit the rights of LGBT community and impose religious beliefs.

Mind you these same members of Congress will rail against governments in Afghanistan and Iran or rogue groups in African countries who strictly impose one set of religious beliefs on all their citizens, yet they hold their tongues in regards to countries like Saudi Arabia and then attempt to impose one set of religious beliefs at home.  And that my friends is a lesson in hypocrisy.

For what it’s worth, I hope our courts continue to defend all citizens from discrimination and the weight of a few imposing their beliefs on the many.